The criticism of China's ancient literary theory germinated very early. The problem of "orderly speech" was mentioned in the Book of Changes during the Sixth Five-Year Plan period. There is a saying in Shangshu Yaodian that "poetry expresses ambition, songs often say, sound is constant, rhythm is harmonious, eight tones are harmonious, and god and man are not harmonious". Although Yao Dian was wrongly entrusted by later generations, it still reflects people's understanding of poetry and music in the pre-Qin period. There are many precious historical materials about primitive art imitating nature in the chapter of Lu Chunqiu Summer Ancient Music, and the dialogue with in the 8th century BC recorded in Guoyu Zhengyang explains art with simple and primitive five-element theory ... Shi Bo thinks that everything in the world is composed of five elements, namely earth, gold, wood, water and fire, and music is also composed of "six harmonious laws". A single voice will not have music, and a single thing will not have literary talent: "There is nothing to hear, nothing to taste, nothing to say." This is undoubtedly a brilliant idea. In the dialogue between Yan Ying and Qi Hou in Twenty Years of Zuo Gong, it is further believed that politics and music should not only seek a single "similarity", but should pursue a harmonious unity of opposing factors. For music, it should be "clear and turbid, big and small, short and long, fast and slow, sad and happy, rigid and soft, late and competitive, in and out, sparse and sparse, so as to help each other. In other words, various opposing factors should be antagonistic, complementary and mutually beneficial. Their thoughts of artistic dialectics and the idea of harmonious musical beauty had a far-reaching influence on China's aesthetic thought, artistic creation and literary theory criticism.

In the 7th century BC, Xiang Kui, a doctor in the Jin Dynasty, put forward such ideas as "Nine meritorious deeds can be sung", "Being rude and unhappy is the reason for rebellion" (Zuo Gong's seven years). Emphasize poetry and music and praise "virtue"; In the 6th century BC, Lingzhou Dove explained the formation of music from the original theory of Yin and Yang, and thought that only when music was made according to the laws and characteristics of natural Yin and kept in harmony could it "conform to the Eight Winds" and make Yin and Yang harmonious, and "when wind and rain come, it will flourish, while prosperity will decline". He put forward the viewpoint of "politics is like music" (in Mandarin, under Zhou Yu) and the music "festival" put forward by medical harmony.

Wu's View of Music is the most detailed comment among the existing historical materials (Zuo Zhuan Xiang Gong Twenty-nine Years). In the comments, we not only put forward the beauty of "neutralization" again, but also can see the people's wishes and the rise and fall of politics from the music, which laid the foundation for the development of literary theory criticism in later generations. China's literary theory criticism was formed from the end of the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period. At that time, because it was in the early stage of literary development, there was no distinction between literature, history and philosophy. The concept of "literature" includes all kinds of articles and even cultural relics, so there is no literary criticism in a strict sense. Although the concept of poetry is relatively clear, due to the integration of poetry, music and dance, the views on poetry refer to poetry, music and dance in many cases. Literary theory criticism is a close-up literary criticism.

During this period, Confucianism and Taoism had the greatest influence on the literary criticism of later generations, especially some literary views of Confucianism, which occupied a leading position in the development of ancient literary theory.

Taoism's literary view of letting nature take its course, from Laozi's "Tao can be Tao, extraordinary Tao; In Zhuangzi's exposition of Tao, we can see that they emphasized a kind of "unexpected arrival" and "unexpected arrival". Therefore, Laozi advocated "loud and happy" and Zhuangzi advocated "nature". At the same time, they also emphasize the existence of mutual existence and complementary opposites, and emphasize nature. These thoughts have a great influence on later literary theories.

Confucius, Mencius and Xunzi, as representatives of Confucianism, have made important contributions to many major issues in literary theory. Confucius summed up the social functions of poetry and music, such as "prosperity, outlook, group, resentment", the artistic view of the unity of aesthetic criticism and social criticism, that is, the unity of beauty and goodness, and his views on the relationship between "emotion" and "word", "quality" and "literature" The influence of Mencius' theory of "knowing words and nourishing qi" and "knowing people and discussing the world" on literary creation and criticism: Xunzi's exposition on the relationship between poetry, music and emotion, the so-called "musicians are also happy, and human feelings are inevitable", and his views on social functional characteristics such as poetry, music, "moving people" and "transforming people" are of pioneering significance in the history of China's literary criticism.

Contrary to the Taoist view of natural inaction, the Confucian literary view of attaching importance to moral and ethical norms is characterized by emphasizing the social and political functions of literature and art and attaching importance to the moral and ethical norms of literature and art. For example, Confucius proposed that learning poetry should be based on the requirements of "being a monarch" and "being a father", and Xunzi believed that poetry and music should play a positive role in "strengthening the city", "the world" and "qi" the world; Another example is Confucius' requirements of "being knowledgeable in literature, making an appointment with courtesy", "thinking innocently" and "being gentle and sincere", Mencius' normative role of benevolence and righteousness in literature, and Xunzi's "controlling desire by Tao is fun without chaos; If you want to forget the Tao, you will be confused and unhappy. These, in the development of China's ancient literary theory, later became a traditional view that paid more attention to the ideological and utilitarian functions of literature.

In addition, during this period, various factions also generally emphasized the role of poetry in "expressing aspirations" and the importance of being quiet when understanding foreign things; Some works of Confucianism further developed the idea of "beauty of neutralization", and works such as Yi Cohesion all talked about "one" and "difference", as well as masculine and feminine issues, which also had a far-reaching impact on later literary theories.

Han Dynasty's Preface to Poetry and other works discussed the artistic techniques of The Book of Songs and Fu Bixing. Sima Qian formally put forward the "angry" theory from Qu Yuan's Xi Yong and Huai Nan Zi, and analyzed the ideological and artistic characteristics of Qu Yuan's works in many works; Various literary ideas put forward around the dispute between Han and Fu also influenced the literary theory criticism of later generations.